A review of the orthosis provision through the Scottish National Brachial Plexus Injury Service

The Brachial Plexus Injury (BPI) Service at the Victoria Infirmary, Glasgow is a designated National Service for Scotland. The aim of this service is "to provide specialist multidisciplinary integrated management for assessment, surgical reconstruction and rehabilitation for patients with brachial plexus injury". To date more than 150 patients have been referred to the clinic. The National Centre for Prosthetics and Orthotics (NCPO) has provided orthotic support to the clinic since its initiation. This paper presents the results of a detailed review the orthotic provision through this service. A systematic review of the clinical notes of every patient fitted with a Brachial Plexus Orthosis (BPO) was carried out. The information gathered included; the demographic profile of the patient group, nature of the original injury, corrective surgery carried out, Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) Score and the orthotic prescription. A number of studies (1, 2) have sought to utilise the DASH Score to indicate the effectiveness of interventions for a number of upper-limb conditions, including BPI. Initial findings in this study indicate the potential effectiveness of this tool when prescribing and reviewing a BPO. However, further work is required before definitive guidelines may be produced.